Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #25 – October 28, 2012, 05:52:36 pm What about the pump compartment, will it freeze in there?... I was having a stoopid idea that maybe I could leave the tank fill valve under the bathroom sink cracked open just slightly with the pump on so it would start every once in a while and the water would stay moving just a little... of course that will run down the batteries and I'll have to start the generator more often to charge them, but I've got a full tank of diesel. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #26 – October 28, 2012, 06:16:24 pm If your water tanks have a lot of water in them, I would not expect you to have any freezing problems if low temperatures are above 28F and average temperatures in a 24 period are well above freezing. With the bay doors closed, the water tanks will provide enough heat to keep the temperatures in the bays above freezing.Check the temperatures of the bays occasionally with a thermometer to ease your mind. An infrared gun type thermometer will give you instant readings. If average temperatures drop too much for comfort before you get to a safer circumstance, put a work light (mechanics' "drop light") in a couple of the bays overnight.If the furnaces are full of dauber nests, you will probably need to pull them out and apart to clean them. We had a furnace burner replaced at FOT last November because daubers had clogged it so badly that it had warped and would no longer support a flame. We now keep "dauber screens" on the furnaces and water heater vents. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #27 – October 28, 2012, 06:18:14 pm Your furnace (if it's like our '93 U300) has a duct than sends warm air directly into the pump compartment and the pump. 28 degrees won't come close to freezing the tanks. We were in the mid-teens in Yellowstone and did nothing other than operating the furnace. Your insurance may pay to send a propane truck (and a fuel truck) to your location and fill your tank (or you could just pay the propane company). If you have the policy with you, check to see what is covered for misc. expenses after a breakdown. Pierce Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #28 – October 28, 2012, 06:31:57 pm I have one of those tiny tent sized candle lanterns here that supposedly burns for 9 hours on a candle providing a lot of heat. Should I light that and put it in the pump compartment tonight? I'm told those little candles are available at Wal-Mart but I didn't check when I was there. I don't have any replacement candles but I'll have to get at least one more before Tuesday night... Would leaving the tank fill valve under the bathroom sink cracked open slightly keep the pump compartment from freezing or is that a ridiculous idea? Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #29 – October 28, 2012, 07:34:07 pm As Dave said, a couple of hours just below freezing will do no harm to the tanks.You might check your rear propane heater-- quite likely it has a duct into the wet bay. So if you run that furnace, it will keep you AND the tanks warm.Brett Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #30 – October 29, 2012, 11:25:56 am Quote from: RRadio – October 27, 2012, 11:26:08 amThe fiberglass fan on my 1991 U300 with 6V92TA engine and less than 80,000 miles on it lost a blade while cruising on interstate 40 at a steady 1500 rpm. The blade hit the front core of the radiator and a small hose that I havent yet identified. The engine was vibrating badly and I pulled over thinking I had a flat tire. Road service sent out Tennessee Towing and they took me to J&K Truck Repair in Crossville TN who refused to do the repair even if I showed him the cash beforehand. He had at least one garage bay empty all day and as many as three mechanics mopping the floor at once. He wouldnt even allow me to stay in his parking lot where the tow truck left me. He called Reed Truck repair and they sent a mechanic to look at it, but they also refused to fix it. They called everyone in town but didnt find anyone. I walked across the street to the BP truck stop and asked if I could park in their truck parking area but they wouldnt allow it. I then walked over to Cumberland Worship Center and asked if I could park in the church parking lot and they said I could. I found the broken blade and removed all of it, putting all the pieces together to be sure none of it was still in there. I removed the water sensor from the top of the radiator and put it in a bucket of water on the back bumper so the computer would allow the engine to run. I started the generator and let the air compressor pump up the air brakes and suspension. I then started the engine and immediately limped away slowly to the church parking lot without letting the engine warm up. Now Im in the process of removing the radiator myself in the church parking lot 30 feet away from J&K Truck Repair. I worked on it until it got dark last night and then walked over to a pizza joint cuz I was starving. The lady who owns the place asked me whats wrong so I told her the story. Her son in law owns a trucking company in town and she said shed call him. Im telling everyone about J&K Truck Repair, Reed Truck Repair, and the BP truck stop refusing to help me at all. Tennessee Towing was very helpful however, as was the church. Without them I dont know what Id do. Ive never felt so alone before. What a cold hearted little town to be stranded in. I called Foretravel and got some valuable advice. They told me to remove the radiator from the bottom of the coach because there are brackets that wont fit through the rear door. I see the brackets that theyre talking about but I really think it will fit through the rear door. Have any of you removed the radiator through the rear door successfully?... Those of you with a fiberglass fan should get rid of it before it explodes. According to Foretravel it has been replaced by Flex-O-Lite part number 8681 and its now a plastic 28 diameter fan blade which hopefully is stronger? The radiator is unavailable and VERY expensive. Im told Ill have to get a local radiator shop to order a new core and solder it in which will take a week or more and cost a thousand dollars... (sigh)... thought you guys would wanna know this stuff.ScottScottJohn Lang here in Crossville. Bummer! Hate to hear of problems like this. Your experience with Crossville hospitality is not typical, but it is a fact that the 3 truck service centers around hear really don't like to do anything on or related to MH's. This really is strange considering there are AT LEAST 250 MH owners in a radias of 20 miles. But that doesn't help you right now.One shop in town used to do rad work - Chans Collision - phnoe 931-484-3519. I would call and ask them.Another alternative is Cookeville Radiator in Cookeville; about 30 miles east on Interstate 40. Phone 931.526.2013For future use: General engine/chassis work: Walker Diesel Service in Cookeville. Phone 931.528.8555. Many of us here in Crossville have our service done there. Very dependable and very reasonable cost. For non-chassis work (most anything on the house): Creston RV Service, Bill Dodson. He is just outside of Crossville. Phone 931.528.8555.I don't have a number for you, but I will head out now and see if I can find you.Good luck,John Lang Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #31 – October 29, 2012, 12:53:13 pm Thanks so much for giving me a tour of Crossville and taking me to the radiator shop John. I really appreciate you... ...Hopefully I'll get some help lifting the radiator out of the coach soon and take it over to the shop. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #32 – October 29, 2012, 01:24:49 pm John,It was very nice of you to seek out Scott and help him out. You set a fine example for others to follow. Thanks for helping out a fellow Foretraveler.I have logged in the noted Crossville shops as "not RV friendly" and the noted Cookeville shops as "RV friendly" just in case I am in the area and need service. I always appreciate that info.Karma boost to you.Rick Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #33 – October 29, 2012, 01:53:20 pm I too think that was very"foreforumily" of you to go over to help in any way possible. Now to find some lifting help for Scott. wish I was close to help.John H Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #34 – October 29, 2012, 08:14:10 pm Rick, please include Tennessee Towing in Crossville as being motor home friendly. He tows a lot of motor homes and is very familiar with them. He's a really nice guy and he actually lives in a motor home about 30' behind me here... When he was underneath my Foretravel he was admiring the suspension and all the engineering and design and said he'd never seen anything as advanced before. He said it was state of the art... and it's 20+ years old!... He said it must ride way better than other motor homes. The mechanics that looked at the 6V92TA engine were admiring it and said it was state of the art... I got a lot of compliments but not a lot of help.Also, whenever you're in the Crossville area and you want to visit a nice church that helps stranded motor home owners, not just me but others before me, visit Cumberland Worship Center. They broadcast their church services on the internet worldwide too.Thanks again to John and Helen for bringing me some blankets just now and offering to let me use their laundry and shower in their house if I need it. They've been so nice to me... (smile)Today I sold a deer rifle that I don't need and I've now got half the cash I supposedly need for the radiator shop. I have a gold wedding band I no longer need that I'll sell too. I have another paycheck coming in about a week and a half and I'm pretty sure I'll still be here then. The check combined with the cash I have now should be enough to resolve this situation... From now on I'll be traveling with more cash and more tools! (laugh) Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #35 – October 29, 2012, 08:48:44 pm Quote from: RRadio – October 29, 2012, 08:14:10 pmRick, please include Tennessee Towing in Crossville as being motor home friendly. He tows a lot of motor homes and is very familiar with them. He's a really nice guy and he actually lives in a motor home about 30' behind me here... When he was underneath my Foretravel he was admiring the suspension and all the engineering and design and said he'd never seen anything as advanced before. He said it was state of the art... and it's 20+ years old!... He said it must ride way better than other motor homes. The mechanics that looked at the 6V92TA engine were admiring it and said it was state of the art... I got a lot of compliments but not a lot of help.Also, whenever you're in the Crossville area and you want to visit a nice church that helps stranded motor home owners, not just me but others before me, visit Cumberland Worship Center. They broadcast their church services on the internet worldwide too.Scott, Yes, I caught the fact that Tennessee Towing was one of the good guys along with the church. I generally copy the complete post so that I can grasp the whole situation and then add my own comments in RED so that I can capture my thoughts at the time.Hope all goes well from here on out.good luck,Rick Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #36 – October 31, 2012, 11:01:35 am I just got a phone call from a gentleman at the church where I'm stranded and he's sending a couple of guys over today to help me lift the radiator out of the the coach, and I think they're bringing a pickup truck to take the radiator to the shop, which John Lang already took me to and they said they'd re-core the radiator for me... so I'm on my way to a repair here... just thought an update might be good. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #37 – October 31, 2012, 11:09:50 am Outstanding! Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #38 – October 31, 2012, 11:24:28 am Way cool! Fortunately you landed among a people who chose to look your plight as an opportunity to help rather than an eyesore.Thanks for the update. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #39 – October 31, 2012, 11:50:34 pm Well the guys didn't show up to help me lift the radiator today but I predict someone will soon. Now I'm helping the church get their internet streaming broadcast onto my friend's nationwide TV network and onto iTunes as a podcast worldwide... so they want me to stay! (laugh)... The pastor told me to plug into their light pole in the parking lot so I won't have to run my diesel generator to charge the batteries... which brings me to another question... do I have to turn down the amperage on the charger so I can plug into a 20A 120V AC outlet without overloading their circuit breaker? Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #40 – November 01, 2012, 12:05:58 am How do you turn down the charger amperage? Are you referring to "power sharing" setting? If you have this setting, change it to 15 amps, which will keep the charger from overloading the shore power. Fully charged batteries will only use a few amps from the battery charger to keep 12-volt items powered.The only way to manage your amp draw is to control your appliances and not run too much at one time. Only high wattage heating items like microwave, water heater, floor heater, hair dryer can cause a problem. TV, computer etc only draw very little current so they will not be a problem. And learn where the church circuit breaker is located, in case you trip it. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #41 – November 01, 2012, 01:17:19 am 20 Amps at 120V is approx 190 amps at 12 Volts after subtracting for conversion factors. Should be no problem. Don't run the air conditioner, etc. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #42 – November 02, 2012, 09:32:02 pm Apparently there's no power to the electric outlet on the light pole near where I'm parked, so it's irrelevant, but thanks for the information.Today a couple of guys from the church where I'm stranded helped me attempt to remove the radiator. We ran out of time but they'll come back on Monday I think. There's no way we were gonna get that big honkin radiator out the back door, so we attempted to slide it out the bottom of the coach. Currently the fan shroud won't go down past the fan clutch shaft. I was attempting to remove the fan clutch when the guys ran out of time and had to leave. What are the two small hoses that pass beneath the radiator and go into the frame of the coach in the very back, down near the trailer hitch? The radiator was hanging by those two hoses so I had to cut them off. I'll replace them later but I don't even know what they are or what's inside the frame back there. Is it a hydraulic fluid reservoir or a coolant reservoir or something like that?Tennessee Towing came back today after hauling another commercial truck that had a fiberglass fan explosion. He had another one the other day since mine too. He said it blew the whole front of the truck off. Mine was a minor fan failure I guess... You guys, check your fan and if it's fiberglass get rid of it now, before it fails catastrophically. Don't wait because you'll be stranded here in a place where nobody will work on it. It's a very difficult job to replace a radiator yourself, even with helpers and a hydraulic jack. This is the biggest, heaviest radiator I've ever seen in any vehicle... and the most expensive.I found the fan, a Flex-a-Lite 8681, at Parts River on the internet for half the price Foretravel charges. I called Flex-a-Lite and spoke to their engineering tech support about my fiberglass fan failure and was told they switched to nylon with fiberglass reinforcement about ten years ago and have had no fan failures since then except for collisions with foreign objects... I hope that's true cuz I NEVER wanna take this radiator out again as long as I live! (laugh)... which won't be long if I drop it on myself. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #43 – November 03, 2012, 11:32:51 am Scott,Those two hoses are air box drains. This is something unique to 2 cycle Detroits. A very small amount of oil drains out of these and Foretravel uses the frame cross member as a capture reservoir. You'll find a drain valve somewhere in the middle of the cross member that you are supposed to drain at every oil change. When ever I open it it hardly a drop comes out. I suppose with higher HP versions and other applications where it's pushed harder there would be more oil coming out of these drains. At 300 hp these engines are just not having to work very hard. Now the cooling system is another story - on a hot day going up a grade it's pushed to it's limits. Once you get your new radiator you should be all set for sometime as long as you periodically clean it. It will get dirty on the fan side where it hardest to see and reach.Attached is a commentary on DD 2 strokes that I save from the internet sometime ago that talks about the air box drains and other things. Some of the info refers to mechanical injection where ours is the electronic DDEC II. BTW, the DDEC computer is mounted on the engine between the two cylinder head thermostats. Surprisingly they run the fuel through the housing to keep it cool. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #44 – November 03, 2012, 12:14:18 pm Very good advice about the Detroit Engines. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #45 – November 03, 2012, 12:21:36 pm John,Enjoyed reading the comments on the Detroit Engines, Having enjoyed many versions of the 2 strokes, I find the article very good info. My last was the 8V-92 with over 600+ hp and never had any issues with it, however I learned earlier to run only the SAE 50 oil, to protect the rear main from spinning, seems only the hard core DD boys get that comment. Always felt that one day I would bring it home on a wrecker due to engine fatigue, but It is still running strong with the new owner who stays amazed at the big power on tap.I do miss the 2 strokers but must admit the ISM series Cummins are great engines, great power, torque, fuel and long mileage engines, with very little need for wrenches.Joy to have owned a real power RV bus conversion, much more that my puny ISM500 in the 36' Foretravel, it does real good but not a real biggie engine. Good mileage, but I always felt the diesel fuel was the cheapest part of a RV.FWIWDave M Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #46 – November 03, 2012, 01:58:34 pm Yes, excellent article. Besides the injector follower, the use of multi-grade oil causes accelerated wear on the pistons with a couple good photo examples on line.They do use a lot more air so clog air cleaners faster and need the big 5 inch exhaust pipe they have on our U300s. Since the EGT is lower they have the unique "Greyhound" exhaust smell and also have the advantage of almost never burning valves. Quite correct as the Detroit 2 cycles were difficult to smog. They could have been modified but the entire cylinder head would have had to have been redesigned to take the common rail injection found in today's smog engines. The Detroits have no external fuel lines with all the fuel in internal passages. That along with the fact that the camshaft driven injection pump/injectors (about 3,000 psi) can't come anywhere close to the 30,000 to 40,000 lbs. pressure needed for the super fine spray particles needed to get emissions down to current standards.More modern 2-cycle diesels do meet all the latest EPA standards and are found in all of the latest Union Pacific locomotives (the largest railroad engine order ever) as well as the world's largest, most efficient diesel engine found in ships. It is the only diesel engine in the world to exceed 50% fuel efficiency. This means it converts more than half of the 155,000 btu/gallon bunker fuel into power for propulsion. Pierce Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #47 – November 16, 2012, 11:24:29 pm The radiator would not come out through the bottom so we had to take it out through the back door. We took it to Chan's Frame & Body Shop here in Crossville because they have a radiator shop and they do truck radiators. Chan's shipped the radiator to Knoxville and quoted me $1385 plus tax to recore it. Knoxville called back and said they'd never seen a radiator like that so they shipped it to Detroit and now the bill is up to $1800 to recore the radiator. I'm not sure if there will be taxes and extra charges added onto it. That's more money than I can come up with unfortunately, so I'll be stranded here a while longer. I hope to escape this place next month.I've been here so long that I ran out of LP gas. In keeping with the spirit of this town, none of the LP gas companies here would fill my tank for me. They all gave a different lame excuse for not helping me. I had to call A&C Propane from Cookeville 30 miles away to come way over here and fill my tank. It's winter so it's pretty cold here for Tennessee with temperatures getting down to freezing at night. Other than John Lang, the only help I've gotten in this town is from Cumberland Worship Center. They've sent guys over to help with the radiator, to fill my fresh water tank before it ran out, gave me an LP gas bottle, took me out to eat multiple times, jump started my generator just now because I ran the batteries down too low I guess (?) and they offered a couple of times to let me plug into their electricity, but I'd need about 500' of cable to reach the building. I think there would be quite a voltage drop over that distance. They also took up a collection for me one night. I tried to give the cash back but they really wanted me to keep it. That was so nice of them. They want me to stay here permanently! I've made a lot of nice friends in this church. I've been trying to help them get on my friend's TV network, get some of my Nashville bands to play here, get their internet TV stream on iTunes as a video podcast, and other things... but so far none of the things I've tried to do for them has worked out.The new fan arrived today and it appears to be much higher quality than the original fiberglass fan. The blades have a steeper pitch to them, so I presume it will push more air. There is no visible fiberglass in the new fan. It looks like it's nylon with aluminum reinforcements. The manufacturer said it was fiberglass reinforced nylon though... I was glad I didn't see any fiberglass in it.Sorry to be silent for so long. I was gonna wait until I had my facts straight before writing about it. Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #48 – November 16, 2012, 11:50:01 pm Call me at Six three oh, 240 nine one three nine in am Quote Selected
Re: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion! Reply #49 – November 16, 2012, 11:57:45 pm Where did they send it in Knoxville? Tennessee RV maybe or somewhere else? Tennessee RV should have known where to get it taken care of considering that they are a Foretravel Service Center, I would have thought. Quote Selected
Topic: Fiberglass radiator fan explosion!